


always, always, always

by Brinny



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Angsty Schmoop, Barry and Iris are the Gold Standard, F/M, POV Iris West, Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-10
Updated: 2019-03-10
Packaged: 2019-11-14 16:20:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18055907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brinny/pseuds/Brinny
Summary: Whenever there’s a storm, Iris flinches at the sound of thunder.[Mostly set during/after 4.01 when Barry comes out of the speed force. As with most of anything I write with Barry and Iris, contains a small sex scene, since they're so lacking on a show that has self-decreed that "touch" is the "love language" of their two romantic leads. So, you know, insert your own eyeroll wherever.]





	always, always, always

 

Barry leaves and Iris learns to live in a world without him. She learns to live in a world without a Barry and Iris.

 _But there’s always a Barry and Iris. Isn’t there?_ she thinks. _On every earth there is a Barry Allen. On every earth there is an Iris West. On every earth there is a Barry and Iris._

On every earth except for hers. On hers, she’s alone.

 

 

(Whenever there’s a storm, Iris flinches at the sound of thunder.)

 

 

Iris tries to keep her promises.

She tries to keep growing. She tries to keep loving. She tries to keep running.

She tries, she tries, she tries.

 

 

 

And then Barry is back.

He’s back and here in her arms. Iris can press her fingertips to his skin. She can feel the softness of his breath on her neck. She can slot her mouth to his, sweet and slow and perfect.

He’s back and Iris can never learn to live in another world without him again.

 

 

 

When Barry disappears to the sounds of sirens, Iris can feel the frenzied beat of her heart against her ribs and tries not to panic.

She’s alone.

He’s gone.

 

 

 

 _You came back_ , she says.

He tips his chin out, confused. _Of course._

_Always. Right?_

Kissing her forehead, he holds her to his chest and whispers into her hair, _Always. Always, always, always._

 

 _I never stopped loving you,_ she says. She pulls his mouth down to hers, their kisses desperate and aching.   _I will never stop loving you, Barry Allen._

 _Never_ , he repeats.

 

 

He sits her down on his cock, slowly moving inside of her, and Iris looks down to where they’re joined together and hates that they were ever apart. Seconds and minutes and hours where they weren’t Barry and Iris. Days and weeks and months. And now she can’t tell where she ends and he begins.

She sees Barry smile as he catches her staring at him sliding in and out of her, then watches as he sucks two fingers into his mouth, bringing them down to stroke through her folds, pressing and rubbing, until she comes (and shudders and shakes and cries) around him.

Barry kisses her temple. _I love you_.

He grips her tighter, so they’re just skin and sweat, and rocks into her faster, her heels digging into his back. And then, with his hands in her hair and their mouths working messily together, he spills himself inside her.

 

After, she lays beside him, hand held on his chest against the steady beat of his heart. How did she ever learn to live in a world where he wasn’t in it?

 _You cut your hair,_ he says. He moves a hand through her curls, lightly pulling on the ends. _I like it._

_Yeah?_

_Mm-hmm._

_I just didn’t feel like me without you. Is that weird_?

 _No_ , he says. _It’s not weird at all._

_Really?_

Barry softly drags the backs of his fingers over her shoulder, her neck, her cheek, her lips. Pulling her up to press a kiss to her mouth, he says, _Iris, I don’t even remember who I was before I met you. I don’t think there was ever really a me before I loved you._

 _I’ve always been yours,_ she says.

_Always. Always, always, always._

 

**Author's Note:**

> This grew out of the fact that after Barry comes out of the speed force, they never have him mention that Iris cut her hair. Which, excuse you Show, as if Barry Allen doesn't catalogue each and every one of Iris West's fashion choices.
> 
> It was also heavily influenced by the song "Fade Into You" from the Nashville OST and the fact that, as a child, I was obsessed with Lucky and Elizabeth from General Hospital, wherein the words, "because I can't even imagine who I used to be without you, how I walked around in this world, not knowing you were in it, waiting to love me" were spoken and it shaped me as a person. 
> 
> Also, the word "always" started to look really weird by the time I finished this. Hands up if you felt the same, lol. 
> 
> Aaaaannndd...this fic(let) takes on a really sad tone when you realize that Barry is totally going to leave Iris again during the crisis. Try not to think about that.


End file.
